Wild horses protected symbol or wasted resource?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO, Nev. (AP) - They make their home under the expansive skies of the American West.

Descendants of the mounts of 16th century conquistadors, these feral mustangs roam the landscape where they feed, frolic - and breed.

To many, they are romantic symbols of the Western frontier; legacies of the toil and grit upon which the nation was founded.

Congress recognized them as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West," and in 1971 passed the Wild Horse and Burro Act, giving them federal protection from harm and harassment.

But as the limitations of the wide open spaces become realized and differing interests jockey for precious turf, some argue that wild horses have been coddled to the point of destruction - destruction of the land, and possibly themselves.

A House subcommittee chaired by Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah, held a field hearing here this week to discuss the growing numbers of wild horses and burros and the federal program administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that has cost more than $240 billion over the past 27 years.

Ranchers, who are often targeted by environmentalists for damage done by livestock to public lands, argued that wild horses are overgrazing lands already scarce of fodder - the same grasses they depend on to feed sheep, cattle and other livestock.

Wild horse advocate say that if lack of forage is the problem, then livestock, too, should be restricted.

Most agree horse and burro populations need to be kept in check. The disagreements arise over how to do it.

About 43,000 wild horses and burros roam public lands, more than half of them in Nevada. The BLM estimates the population is growing by about 24 percent a year - a reproduction rate at which a herd will double in size in three years.

Some ranchers suggest the animals are natural resources, much like deer, elk and other game animals, and should be managed as such.

"All of us love Bambi and all of us love deer," said Demar Dahl, an Elko County rancher who argued that wild horses have destroyed prime grazing grounds. "But we recognize they need to be managed, and how do we do it? We eat them," he said.

Horse meat is a common ingredient in pet foods, and is served for human consumption in much of the world, though the practice is uncommon in the United States.

State Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, and Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, said states would be better able to manage wild horse and burros, as they do other wildlife.

They also suggested authorizing the sale of excess animals, whether as pets or for slaughter.

"Each year our country sells thousands of privately owned horses for slaughter. But the mere mention of sale authority of 'wild' horses with the possibility of slaughter is offensive to some," John Balliette, contractual natural resource manager for Eureka County, told the subcommittee.

"Horses must be viewed as ... a renewable resource that can be effectively managed by harvesting excess numbers."

David Tattam, field director of the National Wild Horse Association, agreed that older, sick or unadoptable horses must be culled from the range - through sale, euthanasia, or funding for a sanctuary - to protect not only the range, but the animals from pain and suffering brought on by sickness, drought and starvation.

Other horse advocates said the issue is more about power and control of public lands than it is about horses.

"Because somebody wants something, they tend to move out anything that's in their way," said Bobbi Royle, founder of the advocacy group, Wild Horse Spirit.

"The horse is a scapegoat," she said. "They're getting a bad rap for mismanagement by everybody."

Royle and others argue that if lack of forage is the problem, then livestock, too, should be restricted.

Ranchers and subcommittee members accused the BLM of mismanaging the program and failing to control herds. But BLM officials say Congress and the courts have limited options for dealing with excess animals to birth control efforts and the agency's adoption program.

In 1988, Congress prohibited the agency from destroying any healthy animals. A year earlier, a federal judge issued an order prohibiting the BLM from issuing title to an animal if the agency knows the person trying to adopt a wild horse intends to use it for commercial purposes.

Last year, the Fund for Animals and the Animal Protection Institute of America sued the BLM for failing to protect wild horses from slaughter.

The federal court lawsuit followed a series by The Associated Press on abuses in the BLM adoption program that found many animals went to slaughter. As a result, the BLM agreed to tighten controls on the program and require potential adopters to sign affidavits stating their intent not to use or sell the animals for commercial purposes.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who arranged the field hearing in Reno, said slaughter is not preferred, but all options should be considered.

"If we don't do more than we're doing today, disease, starvation, will take a huge toll on these animals," he said. "If we're going to protect that symbol, we have to do it smarter, more effectively, more efficiently ... in order to have a viable herd."

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August 22, 1996

Wild Horses Transported to California Sanctuary

Thirty wild horses from White Sands Missile Range, whose trip to greener pastures was canceled two weeks ago in a dispute between the Army and animal rights activists, finally arrived safely at a California sanctuary Thursday.

"They made themselves right at home," said Jim Clapp, who operates the 5,000-acre Wild Horse Sanctuary in Shingletown, Calif., near Redding.

All 30 horses, descendants of domesticated farm and ranch horses left on the New Mexico missile range during World War II, are mares.

Clapp said about half probably will be placed for adoption, and the other half will roam Clapp's range for the rest of their lives.

"They seemed to be a little more gentle, a little more easy-going than a lot of the horses we've had in recently," he said.

The White Sands horses will be quarantined 60 days, blood-tested by veterinarians from the University of California-Davis and given time to adapt to new feed.

"Then we'll turn 'em out with a lot of the other horses we've got. Right at this moment we probably run around 300," he said.

The White Sands horses were brought to the Wild Horse Sanctuary by the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, based in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The move leaves about 200 feral - wild - horses on the White Sands range. Two years ago, more than 1,500 horses overpopulated the Army test range, and drought caused 122 to die of starvation and thirst.

White Sands spokesman Larry Furrow said the Army cleared out about 1,500 horses in 1995, placing all with adoptive families.

The latest horse transport began Tuesday, with a stopover Wednesday night in Ridgecrest, Calif. The horses arrived in Shingletown around 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

"They're all safe - not even a nick or scratch," said Karen Sussman, spokeswoman for the mustang and burro protection group.

She said the move cost the group $3,000 in private donations.

"Not a dime of taxpayer's money was used," Furrow said.

On Aug. 9, White Sands canceled a similar arrangement with an animal rights coalition known as FREE - Federation to Rescue Endangered Equines - complaining about a FREE news release that chastised the Army for allegedly placing horses with inhumane or inexperienced owners. FREE called its plan a "rescue," which rankled White Sands officials.

The mustang and burro group, which had assisted the Army on a number of occasions in the past seven years, took over the move with Army approval.

"It was nice to help out again. Glad we were able to do it," Sussman said in Scottsdale. "This is how I've always worked with the missile range. I think they've always had the best interests of the horses at heart."

While Furrow acknowledged FREE's idea for the roundup and relocation was good, he praised the mustang-burro activists for bringing it to reality.

"We're beholden to them," he said.

Sussman said the remaining 200 horses are in good hands - and good habitat - at White Sands.

"The horses that were still free-roaming on the range when I was down there Tuesday looked to be in excellent condition," she said.

Meanwhile, FREE issued another news release Thursday claiming credit for the idea and criticizing the Army for canceling.

"It boggles the mind that all of this occurred over the dissemination of a benign news release used to raise funds," said FREE spokesman Vernon Weir. "The military is acting as though we are a group of subversives who are a threat to national security."

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May 02, 1996

Government wild-horse home could lose its taxpayer ride

By Sam Walker

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BARTLESVILLE, OKLA. -- Nostrils flaring, tails billowing, muscles straining under taut skin, they race through the prairie switch grass just for the thrill of it. They are wild mustangs, some of the last on earth, and their untempered dash to nowhere is marvelous to watch.

But back in Washington, in the cinder-block offices of the Interior Department's Inspector General (IG), the National Prairie Wild Horse Refuge program provokes a different response.

In a 1994 audit, the IG concluded that this 1,200-horse sanctuary, which costs about $600,000 a year to operate, is not "economically justifiable," and that this herd should be trucked back to its ancestral home in Nevada's dry sagelands.

At a time when both Democrats and Republicans are closing military bases and discussing federal cuts in spending on entitlement programs, such as welfare and health care for the poor and elderly, it's easy to see why a program for unwanted horses might be viewed as disposable.

Auditors will soon release a new report on the wild horse program, which could again recommend eliminating the Oklahoma refuge. To the ranchers here, that would be tragic. The problem, they say, is that as many as half the herd could be too accustomed to the easy life here, or too old, to survive back West.

"Back in Nevada, these horses had a rough life," says John Hughes, the rancher who oversees the program. "It doesn't rain much there, vegetation is sparse, and they have to compete with cattle, deer, and elk."

By contrast, he says, his 18,000-acre haven boasts some of the world's finest grasslands, and the horses have grown accustomed to feedings from a flatbed truck in the winter months. "Here, the horses must think they've already died and gone to heaven," he says. Since there is a federal law preventing the slaughter of mustangs, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been charged with rounding up as many as 6,000 horses each year, training them, and offering them for adoption all over the country.

The wildly popular program costs adopters only a minimal fee and prevents overcrowding on the Nevada range. But before BLM changed its policy eight years ago, it rounded up many horses that were unadoptable. This swaybacked, long-toothed, or just plain ornery collection of mustangs was kept in holding pens at great expense, until BLM decided to take bids from ranchers who would house the horses on their property.

"These horses are not the prettiest things in the world," says the program's supervisor, Lili Thomas, "but they're definitely the strongest."

Hughes points out a horse he calls "Englebert." Born with only half a rib cage, Englebert makes quite a spectacle when he runs - bouncing along like a kangaroo. "You try not to laugh," he says, "but you really can't help it."

Indeed, a look at the herd reveals that this refuge, as inspiring as it can be, is essentially an expensive retirement home for over-the-hill horses. Since no more horses will be added, the program is slated to end as soon as the last one dies. So far, Ms. Thomas says, attempts to attract would-be adopters and donors have produced little but some curious marketing slogans. Among them: "majestic mares make marvelous mothers," "make your home their haven," and "even legends retire."

But Thomas and Hughes contend that if people could see this place and compare it with the hardscrabble range in Nevada, they would not mind footing the bill or even giving money to make these horses' last years livable. "Wild horses are an emotional issue," Thomas says. "The American public really likes them. They're a part of this country's heritage that can never be replaced."

This page will continue to have information added to it as time permits. If your heart has been touched in any way let your voice be heard. Thank you for honoring me with your visit and please return for addition to this page............Peace, love & harmony.

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March 25, 1997

Give wild horse law real teeth

IT'S been 26 years since Americans, sick of the carnage on the range, demanded protection for the nation's wild horse herds.

They demanded it out of disgust for the brutality of a few cowboys who hounded wild horses until they collapsed, tortured them and then shipped them off to dog food processing sites.

The last straw came in 1971 near a little town called Howe, Idaho, where wranglers ran a herd off a cliff, then cut off the survivors' front legs with chainsaws to prevent their escape. That occurred as Congress was holding hearings on whether to enact mustang protection. Incidents such as those, along with the lobbying efforts of Velma Johnston --"Wild Horse Annie" -- brought the law into existence.

Now, a generation later, the law is being circumvented. Mustangs are being adopted, held for a year, then sent to the slaughterhouse. Efforts to stop this practice haven't fared very well. Federal lawyers contend that the mustangs are no longer government property after the first year of adoption. But BLM does not pay attention to the adoptions themselves. It took a 1987 court order forbidding the BLM from issuing title to anyone who intends to slaughter the horses.

Unfortunately, that order has not improved the situation. Thousands of horses are being adopted as "canners" headed for packing plants in and out of the country. Continuing abuses brought a Texas grand jury on the verge of indicting BLM officials. It was sidetracked by a government intrepretation of the law.

Federal attorneys now argue horses can be killed under the wild horse protection act, the law designed to protect them. Former Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore., warned at the time that Congress must ensure enforcement. Judging from the abuses, he was right.

Admittedly, wild horse management has serious problems. In many areas there are too many horses for the available forage and horse reductions are necessary.

The principal tool for reducing the number of mustangs has been adopting them to citizens interested in owning part of America's past. Obviously, animals too old or sick for adoption have no realistic option other than the slaughterhouse.

But Congress never intended the BLM to become a processing point for dog food. It intended that the animals would be safeguarded from those who use cruelty to make a profit.

Congress should revisit wild horse protection and amend the law, affording no leeway for lawyers to evade its intent. As it stands now, the law provides little, if any, protection and perpetuates more cruelty, such as that inflicted by a few cold-hearted monsters in Idaho 26 years ago.

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June 28, 1997

Lawmaker wants wild horse ombudsman position funded

By Martha Bellisle

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARSON CITY (AP) - A cattle-ranching lawmaker with little tolerance for Nevada's mustangs has asked a Senate money panel to fund a new position that will establish policies to control wild horses. "This person would be assigned the duty of getting the two sides together and come up with solutions without having to go to court," he added.

Rhoads wants the ombudsman to work closely with the Commission for the Preservation of Wild Horses.

SB293 places the position within the Division of Agriculture and assigns the person "to manage the activities of the division pertaining to natural resources, land use planning and the management and control of wild horses and estrays."

It also mandates the person to establish policies for the "management and control of estrays and the preservation and allocation of natural resources necessary to advance and protect the livestock and agricultural industries in this state."

The new worker would monitor stray wild horses, provide public information on wild horse issues and assess the amount of competition for food between livestock and wildlife to be sure both get their fill.

Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, said this is needed because livestock in the state are getting pushed out by other wildlife.

"At all the places I've visited in the state the No. 1 problem is desert tortoises and wild horses," Jacobsen said. "Nobody is better equipped to manage the livestock than our own people."

The position pays $50,000 a year along with $19,000 in fringe benefits and includes in-state travel money. Adding in a computer and other equipment, the total cost for the position will be $163,000 in the next two years.

Agriculture Department chief Paul Iverson said the new person will spend much of the time in the field, talking to ranchers and farmers and looking at the areas where mustangs roam.

The worker will establish memos of understanding between ranchers and wildlife advocates, Iverson said.

Nevada Farm Bureau lobbyist Doug Busselman said the position will perform an important duty.

"We believe this type of position within the department will help build cooperation between agencies, both at the state and federal level," Busselman said.

January 29, 1997

Letter: State mustang preservation hidden in bureaucratic dust

In following the details regarding the slaughter of our wild horses, I haven't noticed any mention of how many of those horses went to Mexico for the Mexican leg-breaking rodeos nor how many went to Canada for the manufacture of Premarin nor any mention of the Wild Horse Commission formed about 1985 with money earmarked for wild-horse preservation from the Bell estate.

The state of Nevada took charge of the money and formed the commission to administer the funds. But, apparently, not much preserving is taking place.

What is the status of this commission now? Is there any money left? What is being done with it? I really would like to know.

Pete Bachstadt Carson City

Americas Vanishing Heritage Continued

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